Haitian Elections to Proceed Despite Controversy

Elections in Haiti of a new president were to have taken place this month; however they have been delayed twice already.  A completely new government is to be elected before the constitutionally determined date of February 7, 2006 in order to replace the interim government.  In an October 13 article in Newsday, correspondent Letta Tayler describes controversies surrounding Haiti’s electoral process.  Many accuse the electoral council of incompetence and politicization of the process.  Others point out that there are no legitimate presidential candidates on the ballot.  The candidate most likely to garner broad support is Roman Catholic Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a firebrand priest who has been jailed on murder accusations, although no charges have been formally made.

The current number of registered voters, according to Tayler, is over 3 million­—more than two-thirds of the estimated electorate. Tayler reports that the establishment of an election registration center in the middle of Cite Soleil, a slum of up to a half million people, is a relative success in itself.  Cite Soleil is an ostensibly Aristide-backing area.  Weapon carrying gangs loyal to Aristide because of the patronage he gave them before his ouster roam freely within the slum and often engage in pitched gun battles with the UN peacekeeping troops stationed in Haiti.

Tayler reports that one ‘renegade’ member of the electoral council has maintained that because of the council’s incompetence, the election should be turned over to the Organization of American States, who is providing logistical electoral assistance.   However the chief of the council warned, “If the international community wants to help, it should avoid imposing solutions.”  Tayler quotes an anonymous US State Department official as stating that the elections must go forward because the interim government is viewed as illegitimate.

The Miami Herald, in an October 14 editorial entitled “Why Haiti Isn't Ready for Elections,” argued that elections now would be bound to fail.  The Herald gave two options:  The elections should be delayed until the situation on the ground is improved (months or years from now) or somebody else run the elections.  Citing the endless cycle of violence that has gripped Haiti over the last two decades, the Herald determined:

At a minimum, the elections should be pushed back a few months and run by an international organization that can give the balloting a measure of credibility that the hopelessly ineffective electoral council can't offer. Better yet, the balloting can be postponed until Haiti meets a set of ground rules -- improved security, for example -- that holds the hope of a better future.

Sources:
“Losing Hope in Haiti,” Letta Tayler, Newsday, October 12:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wohait114465775oct12,0,3419493.story?page=1

“Why Haiti Isn’t Ready for Elections,” Miami Herald, October 14:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12898591.htm